A Place Where the Sun Refuses to Shine – Ogbebute Emmanuel
Far and beyondthe horizon of comfortInto a jungle of huddle, puzzles and struggles.A place where the sun refuses to shineits golden ray upon the eyes of the foresighted.A place where souls are painted with stains of pain.Goals are ornamented with…
Going Mad in Nsukka – James-Ibe Chinaza
Going Mad in Nsukka Mọ́renikeji, God is dead, and I’ve been binge-watching videos on YouTube. I swear, I am not trying to be a woke babe. The world is made of blood, and we are all gut-deep lacerations, asymmetrical axes,…
Shore-gazing – Praise Osawaru
Praise Osawaru (he/him) is a writer of Bini descent. A Best of the Net, Pushcart Prize, and Nina Riggs Poetry Award nominee….
How to Tell My Body I Love You – JoeMario Umana
after Georgia Ifunaya’s Self-Love running waterfrom the showerbecomes hands& crawl my skinlike cover crops over soil, planting a million pimples on my body—a land fertilewith want. I slide into the tunnelof my left palm’s indexand thumb, slippery like okra’s drawmade from soap and water. this…
Placed in a Place – Merlin Flower
Placed in a place To the rain that edged on only as a muffled scream gobbled by a car and then a truck. To the rain that came back, more furious with the cyclone. water rushed everywhere knee deep…
Osholonge – Onoberhie Janet Ojevwe
A street divided by both the doers and the saintsA street divided by the houses: dilapidated and well structured Divided by different tongues, practices and beliefsTime to time, blue and red sirens come visiting With full force, taking into captivity the doers…
Lover Prelude – N Sehar
After Zaina Alsous Inside the eyes is a river. Inside the river, some loose fragments of tree Inside the tree, fish skulls, salt buried in the chest of the earth, unnamed Forgotten lovers. Inside the lovers, a sea of sorrow. Inside the…
Two Poems by Mercy Musa
A Body Performing a Disappearing Act Like lace dipped in vinegar sorrowthe nature of my narcissism is translucent,this body, almost transparent, almost fading to nothingthis skin, almost disappearing, almost syncing to dust If only I could hold light in the…
Jaundiced – Hibah Shabkhez
You and I, ma chère langue étrangère, we stand on the banks of the Loire, ruefully watching our poor twisted paper boats lurch downriver in the sunset-gilded waves. The sun simmers steadily upon the same crinkled place, but our broken…
I Will Remember Your Name – Mayor Prosper Ihechi
Because the seers follow you across lifetimes. I am dreaming, and in my dream, we are together again, Temisola- the girl I can no longer remember, you. There is no face. All that remains is a voice, scratchy, like a…